The present invention relates to a device for delivering and collecting fluids and, more particularly, to a self-contained manual device adapted for rapid and repetitive delivery and collection of a fluid.
Oftentimes, as part of a medical procedure, a physician is required to collect a specimen for culture (typically a fluid secretion) from a body cavity of a patient. The medical procedure may, for example, require that a specimen be taken from the patient's nasopharynx.
Typically, these specimens are obtained by direct swabbing of the affected area. However, a more accurate and preferred method for collecting a specimen involves the delivery of a quantity of irrigating solution to the nasopharynx (thereby dissolving the secretion in the solution) and the subsequent collection of such solution for analysis in a laboratory.
The goal of the above-described collection technique is to obtain a specimen having a high concentration of fluid secretion. This task is preferably accomplished by repeatedly lavaging the nasopharynx with the irrigating solution. Accordingly, it is important that the lavaging step be conducted with only a minimal loss of irrigating solution. Further, the process is preferably accomplished by employing only a relatively small volume of irrigating solution. In this fashion, the collected secretion does not become overly diluted in the irrigating solution and hinder the analysis stage. Finally, the process is preferably accomplished without causing undue discomfort or trauma to the patient.
The devices and techniques currently available are unable to simultaneously accomplish these goals. For example, at least one of the devices currently available for sampling the nasopharynx requires substantial wall suction that may prove uncomfortable and traumatic to the patient. Other devices such as bulb syringes are unable to effectively deliver fluid against gravity and, further, are not adapted for aspiration of the dispensed fluid. Moreover, typical sampling techniques require substantial cooperation from and movement by the patient, thereby rendering such techniques useless in children and the elderly.
One technique currently employed by physicians involves the construction of a collection device from a syringe, which is then filled with saline and fitted with a section of flexible catheter. The patient is placed in a generally horizontal position and, thereafter, the flexible catheter is advanced into the nasal cavity. The solution is then dispersed into the nasal cavity from the syringe and, thereafter, is aspirated back into the syringe. As might be expected, it is difficult to recollect the solution in the syringe because the solution tends to run back along the nasal passage. Further, the flexible catheter employed to deliver the solution does not facilitate the recovery process and, in fact, hinders the process due to the rather small diameter of its opening. Finally, the above-described procedure can be quite discomforting to the patient and is difficult to perform on children and the elderly.
It is also necessary, at times, to obtain specimens from such body cavities as the ear, vagina or rectum. For example, vaginal or rectal sampling is often required to check for local infections. These samples, which are currently obtained by swabbing the affected area or by sampling excrement, would prove more accurate and be accomplished in a less invasive manner by use of the above-described collection technique.
There is also a need in the medical field for a device which can deliver medication to a body cavity. The device is preferably capable of delivering a relatively large volume of medication to a body cavity. The particular procedure may also require that the delivered medication be promptly removed from the body cavity of the patient. For example, when treating a cancer of the nasal passage, it may prove medically desirable to deliver a relatively large volume, high concentration of a toxic agent to the passage. This agent must be quickly and entirely delivered to the nasal cavity and then quickly and entirely withdrawn. Again, the devices currently available are unable to accomplish this task.
There is a further need in the art for a device which would allow cleansing of a surface through repetitive lavaging of such surface with an irrigating solution. Accordingly, this same device must be capable of readily collecting the discharged solution once such solution has pooled.